From Barracks To Baseball To…

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Bump Holman looks out of the cockpit window at his father, Bud Holman (right), and Walter O'Malley in this 1957 photograph. Bump was the Dodgers' chief pilot from 1950 to 1965.

… Viewed from the perspective of 1998, it sounds crazy, but 50 years ago Vero was a remote little town of 3,000 people, and developers were not exactly beating at the door.  If anyone could solve the problem, it was Bud, a multi-faceted businessman — Cadillac dealer, rancher, grove owner — who had helped build the Vero Beach airport in 1929 and later became its manager.

Times changed for Bud when America entered World War II, and the Vero airport was taken over by the U.S. Navy.  Soon, it had become a major training base for Navy pilots, and instead of a few dozen employees and a handful of planes, Vero was now playing host to 3,000 men and 220 aircraft.

As the war escalated, the base became a self-contained city. Extra land was acquired, more runways were opened and building proceeded at top speed on new barracks, hangars, a hospital and PX.

Read the entire article in the Summer 1998 issue

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